How to be Involved in Politics, Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria

A major pronouncement by the Kenyan Supreme Court in September 2017 when they nullified the August election of Present Kenyatta was: ELECTION IS A PROCESS AND NOT AN EVENT o So simply Voting is not enough. You have to engage with Process. But what do we have in Nigeria? GERONTOCRACY Ø …a state, society, or group governed by old people.
Ø …A gerontocracy is a form of rule in which a nation is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population.
So being in Government or Political sphere is essential if we are to transform our nation into proper DEMOCRACY. Being angry on the side-line is not enough.
A REALITY CHECK: IS NIGERIA ON A FAST TRACK TO BECOMING A FAILED NATION?
Prof Acemoglu and Prof Robinson. (Based on 15yrs of research) wrote extensively on WHY NATIONS FAIL.
· Why does one nation succeeds and another fail even though they have similar Demography and same level of Natural Resources.
· Why does a nation succeeds and another fails even though they are of similar size and economic history.
From their Research, I was able to distil the SEVEN main Reasons Nations Fail into the following Factors:
FIRST REASON: Lack of Effective Institutions of State and Governance A Nation with no effective or Independent institutions will always be at the mercies of politicians and those institutions will never develop or grow.
SECOND REASON: Lack of Plurality and change in Political Leadership “Powerful people always and everywhere seek to grab complete control over government, undermining broader social progress for their own greed. Keep those people in check with effective democracy or watch your nation fail.” –
THIRD REASON: Lack of Effective Democratic Competition. Changes in politicians based on a one party state contributes to less development in a nation in most countries. “A country is poor precisely because it has been ruled by a narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people. Political power has been narrowly concentrated, and has been used to create great wealth for those who possess it”
FOURTH REASON: Absence of an Effective Rule of Law or existence of A Weak Legal System as well as slow and unequal Criminal Justice Framework. This breeds Impunity.
FIFTH REASON: Lack of Effective and Competitive Private Sector Ownership in the Economy. Russia for example replaced the monopoly of the state with monopoly of the Oligarchs.
SIXTH REASON: Lack of Internal Security. Disorder left unchecked always lead to state failure.
Planned and uncontrolled insecurity plays to people’s fears and encourages withdrawal into Ethnic, Religious, Tribal and other socio-cultural fragments. Violence and Insecurity becomes a tool of cohesion and control.
But this tend to spiral out of the control of political actors who initiated it. (E.g; Taliban in Afghanistan, Janjaweed in Sudan, Niger-Delta Militants, Boko Haram version 1).
SEVENTH REASON: Lack of an Engaged Citizenry. Nations that fail tend to have oppressed, repressed, depressed and inactive citizens. Learned helplessness is common in such countries. Active and Informed Citizens are antidotes to Nation Failure. Active and Involved citizenry is the only rescue plan for a Nation heading for total Failure
Countries like the United Kingdom and Europe became wealth and developed only after the ordinary citizens overthrew the Elites that were dominating power and politics. o While these was achieved sometimes through violence; we can achieve the same through ROBUST and Unrelenting engagement with Politics and Governance. · Being Involved also include better WORK ETHIC and attitude of the people.
So How do you GET INVOLVED in Politics, Governance and Nation Building
Apart from being an citizen, to actively engage with Politics and Government; will usually require TWO ROUTES: Ø DIRECT / CONVENTIONAL route Ø INDIRECT / UNCONVENTIONAL route
DIRECT speaks of visible engagement with politics and contesting for electoral office.
INDIRECT refers to being in the background, directing political operations, many times indirectly. —————————– So to participate and engage in Politics and governance you need to choose some of the following TWENTY–ONE (21) Pathways:
1. BE AN INFORMED CITIZEN: Look for information in newspapers, magazines, and reference materials and judge its accuracy. a. Avoid being a victim of Fake News and Misinformation campaigns. Use corroboration and multiplicity of sources to verify information.
2. BE REGISTERED TO VOTE AND VOTE : Voting in local, state, and national elections
3. ENGAGE IN POLITICAL DISCUSS AND DEBATE: Participating in a political discussions, seminars and debates. Being in a conference like this is needed and commendable.
4. BECOME A POLITICAL EVANGELIST: Spread the word to your friends and family on the need to vote and be engaged in politics. Become a political persuader. Become an expert at one to one personal persuasion.
5. BECOME A POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Demonstrating through marches, Peaceful Civil Disobedience, boycotts, sit-ins, or other forms of protest. Demonstrate to show that a law or policy is unjust.
6. BECOME A MOBILE POLITICAL MESSAGE PROMOTER: Overtly display your political message everywhere you go.
a. This can be a general political persuasion message rather than party political. Wearing a button, badge or putting a sticker on your car for instance. b. It can also involve campaigning for a particular candidate.
7. STAND AS A CANDIDATE TO BE VOTED FOR. Run for a political Office at any level.
8. BECOME A PARTY DONOR: This can be done with or without being a member of a political party. It involves contributing money to a party or candidate.
9. JOIN A POLITICAL PARTY: Become a local member of a political party and be active as a member. Attend meetings to gain information, discuss issues, or lend support. This also allows you to serve as a delegate for internal party elections.
a. This will help strengthen the internal operations of political parties in Nigeria; many of who lacks internal democracy. b. No point complaining of the bad choices of candidates we are being presented with if we do not engage to influence who wins at primaries.
10. BECOME A POLITICAL LOBBYST: lobbying for laws that are of special interest to your communities with the Legislatures. This can be done as an individual or as a part of a group.
11. BECOME AN INSTITUTION BUILDER: A lot of influence is exerted by Civil servants and Institutional operatives in all government departments. So consider joining the public sector staffing pool.
12. BECOME A RELIABLE AND FORMIDABLE INFORMATION SOURCE: With Technology, you can become your own online newspaper overnight. Start a Blog or online information sharing site. Become a reliable source that will inform, educate and enlighten the citizenry.
13. BECOME A CAMPAIGN STAFF FOR YOUR CHOSEN CANDIDATE: Join the staff of your chosen candidate especially if you are not currently in paid employment or you have some spare time in your hands.
14. BECOME A VOLUNTEER FOR A PARTICULAR PARTY OR CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN: Volunteers have access to the candidate indirectly and can help push the candidate’s agenda. This tend to be voluntary roles.
a. Many parties choose their polling agents from their volunteer pools, (as an exampl
15. BECOME A COMMUNITY ORGANISER: MAINTAIN MOTIVATION BY STARTING LOCAL. You stand a better chance of making changes and impact at the local level than at national level. This is more achievable. A lot are decided at the local level than many appreciate. The big players in politics tend to focus on the national terrain than the local.
· Find a local issue that affects your community and organise around it.
· Politicians will always engage with people that have numbers behind them. If your voice can influence 10,000 people, they will talk to you.
· You can distinguish yourself better when you start local. There is less genuine competition at the local level.
· The more grand a vision is; the more unviable it will seem and has the potential to wear you down. So starting small can be motivating and nimble enough for you to see through.
16. BE STRATEGIC. While we all have the right to stand candidates or elections, it make sense to be strategic and synergies if you want to have change. Ten change candidates to challenge a single establishment candidate will lead to status quo as the change vote will be split into too many silos.
· Being Strategic may also mean you vote for Candidates and not blindly for parties. · At all levels; select your candidates based on their pedigree and prospect and not just blindly vote a party. · Vote Tactically and not just for a Party
17. TAKE ON FORMAL ELECTORAL EDUCATION AND DISSEMINATION If you can write BOOKS that will educate and Inform, do so. · If you are Arts and Entertainment, produce plays, TV Soaps and films that will pass on the message of active engagement and good citizenship. · Organise seminars and conferences.
This is in addition to the personal electoral evangelism previously mentioned. Write articles for various media houses.
18. BECOME A POLICY EXPERT AND A CONSTRUCTIVE CRITIC Develop expertise in particular areas, and do detailed analysis of government and candidates performance. Become an issue expert that challenges the government. Put them on their toes.
19. UNDERSTAND INEC ELECTORAL PROCESS FOR 2019 AND PROTECT YOUR VOTE.
INEC FIVE Step Processes
1) Voters Registration – Done Electronically
2) Voter Identification at the Polling Boot/Unit – Done Electronically
3) Actual Voting (By Law must be done Manually with Paper)
4) Collation of Results at the polling unit – Recorded Electronically and Manually
5) Transportation of Results to Regional Collation centres, then to state HQ – (Now to be both electronically from the polling stations and manually by hand as well)
a. But if there is discrepancy, then based on current Laws, the Paper version is the approved evidence. (THIS WILL CHANGE IF THE NEW ELECTORAL ACT BECOMES LAW)
20. START OR JOIN AN ELECTORAL MONITORING GROUP Start a group that will specialise in election monitoring. This will allow you to contribute to the monitoring of future elections and do a good job of ensuring the rules are followed rather than complaining from the side-line.
ü If you are starting your own, it must be registered with the authorities
21. KEEP THE COUNTRY IN YOUR PRAYERS. Personally or as part of a prayer group; keep the nation in your prayers.